Consumers are becoming savvier. This is especially true when access to the Internet is readily available and research on a product or service can be easily accomplished online. Various sites on the Internet have made it easy for consumers to search for products and services alike before making a purchase. Depending upon the capabilities of the network sites, consumers searching for certain products or services may be presented with various types of information. For example, a consumer may search for a product or service via a portal or search site. In response to the consumer's request, the search site may display a list of hyperlinks corresponding to sellers that offer the requested product or service. When the consumer clicks on a hyperlink corresponding to one of the sellers, the consumer's browser is directed to the consumer-selected seller's website. The consumer-selected seller may have the requested product or service available for purchase through its website or at a physical location near the consumer.
In this case, the search site can be seen as an intermediary between the consumer and the consumer-selected seller. However, the consumer-selected seller may not be affiliated with the search site and, unlike advertisers that pay the search site to display ads, directing the consumer to the consumer-selected seller may not yield financial benefits to the search site. On the other hand, the consumer-selected seller may have no control as to how it is ranked on the list provided by the search site in response to the consumer's search query on a particular product or service.